People are certainly impressed by the aura of creative power which a writer may wear, but can easily demolish it with a few well-chosen questions. Bob Shaw has observed that the deadliest questions usually come as a pair: "Have you published anything?" – loosely translated as: I've never heard of you – and "What name do you write under?" – loosely translatable as: I've definitely never heard of you.

All writers are vain, selfish and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives lies a mystery. Writing a book is a long, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.

Coleridge was a drug addict. Poe was an alcoholic. Marlowe was killed by a man whom he was treacherously trying to stab. Pope took money to keep a woman's name out of a satire then wrote a piece so that she could still be recognized anyhow. Chatterton killed himself. Byron was accused of incest. Do you still want to a writer - and if so, why?

It's hard enough to actually get the words on paper - but after that you have to do the self promotion thing. That's when you find out that, rather than the world clamoring to read you work, you're just one of thousands upon tens of thousands of writers in exactly the same place.

Writing a book used to be the goal - that many splendorous achievement that marked you out as special. Now?

Join the queue.

Getting publishers interested in your book is - and always was I guess - a total uphill struggle. But it's getting worse.

The whole publishing industry seems set up to say 'no', before you've even had time to pitch your idea, hone your proposal or edit down your synopsis.

Publishers explain they already have a huge back catalogue of work they have yet to publish, that, really, they don't need to see your manuscript, even before they know what it's about.

But then you read that traditional publishing is on the way out anyway. Kindle apparently is taking over - and within a mere year or two the majority of books sold will be electronic.

Not sure if I believe that but even Governor Schwarzenegger has famously recently vowed to 'terminate' the written book.

There's always self publishing - but this is turning into a minefield and a nightmare combined for the average wannabe author.

There're many companies already on line whose sole aim seems to be to take your money, make you poorer and do nothing much to help you or your work.

Self publishing - I know because I do it - shouldn't cost you more than around $500 for 50 books. That's the reality. That's how much it actually costs. So why do others charge you around $5000 or $15000?

These companies use the fact that writers find it so hard to get published to fatten their wallets at your expense.

Talk about profiteering.

Need an agent?

Fugedaboudit.

Agents are besieged by writers' work they can't sell. Even when you get one - and we've had a few - our experience is that they find it just as hard (and sometimes harder) to get our work published as we do.

Think that having an agent gives you an edge in the publishing world?

Uh-uh.

Times ain't like that anymore.

And here again there are individuals who call themselves agents - who prey on writers desperation to be represented - and rip you blind before you can say, "Can you please read my book?"

It's enough to make you despair!

Fact is, you're most likely to sell books if you a) self publish them - by which I mean finding a cheap POD printer and doing it yourself and then b) going on a speaking tour of your local libraries and shops and physically selling your books out of the trunk of your car.

I know traditional publishers who suggest you do this this anyway - they call it a 'launch tour' - difference being they will take 90% of the cover price of your book. At least when you self publish you get to keep 50% or more.

I read an editor's blog recently that said in 2008-9, 99% of all books sold less than 200 copies each - and that includes the books sold by traditional publishers.

Makes you want to seriously reconsider your decision to be a writer, doesn't it?

But still we do it.

I write every day. I have four fiction books I want to get out there - when I'm done editing.

We have books published. Over a hundred between us - and the royalties are good but, of course, could be better.

This last couple of years our income from self published books has actually overtaken our income from publishers. This marks the dilemma we're facing.

Is it really worth hawking around the publisher's circuit anymore? After all, they can take up to a year - and sometimes longer - to reject a MS. That's way too long to make a writer wait in my view.

Far better to take the bull by the horns (don't you just hate cliches) and do it ourselves.

I think this is what the future holds for writers. We gotta do it ourselves. Build the following one reader at a time. Get ourselves out there and sell our books one at a time - and make a small profit from each one.

Take back control from an industry that is finding it increasingly hard to support us with the onslaught of new technology.

Refuse to get sucked in to those companies and individuals who prey on writer's dreams.

Make the decision.

Decide to take back control over our destinies - and let those big publishing companies know their days are numbered.

One of the most enduring of fictional characters would have to be Sherlock Holmes.

So much so that many London tourists are surprised - and sometimes upset - to learn that, despite the master detective's fame and influence (and his real address at 221b Baker Street), Holmes is the imaginary creation of writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

What's fascinating about Sherlock Holmes is that he's almost too incredible to be believed. He's a drug addict (morphine - the forerunner of heroin - wasn't illegal in those days), he's a terrible musician, he has a knowledge of poisons that is almost alarming, and his deductive skills are nothing less than superhuman.

ASIDE: From this brief description you can see why the character would easily appeal to actor Robert Downey Jr!

In many ways Holmes is the first modern superhero - complete with costume and cloak. I think what humanizes him is that he's only ever presented through the eyes of his sidekick Watson - whose regard and wonder for his detective friend is infectious.

This is a clever literary trick that Conan Doyle employs to not only give veracity to the stories, but to allow us to empathize by default through a character (Dr John Watson), who is essentially the ordinary reader's perspective.

It's a trick worth copying in your own writing if you're unsure how to present your own 'larger than life' character. Fitzgerald uses the same technique by presenting Gatsby through the eyes of Nick. As does Stephenie Meyer by showing Edward through Bella, come to think of it.

What's interesting to me is that successive biographers have tried to find the 'real' Sherlock Holmes. Most agree that he's based on Conan Doyle's tutor and mentor at Edinburgh University, Doctor Joseph Bell.

It's interesting because we often do this. We see a great fictional character and always assume there must be a real person in there somewhere.

Is Robert Langdon based on Dan Brown or his friend, John Langdon?

Is Somerset Maugham's Oliver Haddo based on Aleister Crowley?

Is Norman Bates based on Ed Gein?

Is Lady Macbeth really based on Lady Donwald?

It's almost as if we don't give writers any credit for coming up with original characters.

This can be especially alarming when we're faced with publisher's submission guidelines where they ask for originality in characters.

What are they really saying to us? That you must have more original friends? That you need more interesting influences? Or perhaps more compelling thoughts?

Seriously, of course we want to create characters that transcend time and exist beyond the ordinary. But we are all essentially the product of our influences - and can really only be original within somebody else's context.

Writers can tie themselves into knots over what is original and what isn't. Which is why I think it shouldn't be a consideration for writers.

Our originality comes through how we approach a character, how we describe their actions and create empathy for them.

Trying to be original will often result in nothing of the sort.

Originality is in the eye of the beholder, not the creator - to whom the character is probably far from 'unfamiliar.'

Sherlock Holmes is a case in point. Even Conan Doyle grew tired of him and tried to kill him off - famously at the Reichenbach Falls.

Indeed, the super-detective and his sidekick was already an idea developed by Edgar Allan Poe in the Rue Morgue murder stories, as early as 1841. Wilkie Collins too had created the first modern detective, Sergeant Cuff, at least twenty three years prior to the appearance of Sherlock Holmes.

Originality is relative, clearly, and not always the intention of the writer.

So, my advice? Never feel intimidated by agents, editors and publishers who say they want originality. There's no such thing. And besides, I doubt they'd recognize it anyway.

And did you know that Holmes most famous phrase, "Elementary, my dear Watson," never actually appears in any of Conan Doyle's sixty one stories?

If you're just breaking into the writing business, you may be wondering if you should start by offering your work to nonpaying markets. Do new writers need to serve some sort of "apprenticeship" in such markets before moving on to those that pay? Are nonpaying markets the only way for a new writer to break in?Sadly, some writers don't ask this question at all, assuming (for various reasons) that the answer must be "yes." Too many talented writers end up wasting considerable time writing for free, unable (or refusing) to believe that they could be paid for their material.At the heart of this issue are two misperceptions. The first is the assumption that one must somehow pay one's dues, "crawl before one can walk," in the writing business -- and that this involves working for no money. The second is the phrasing of the question itself. Instead of asking "Should I write for nonpaying markets?" many writers should be asking "When should I write for nonpaying markets?"

The Apprenticeship MythMany writers believe that one's career must begin with nonpaying markets. Many articles extol the value of such markets for building clips, enabling one (theoretically) to move on to paying publications. Writers often assume that without a history of publication, no paying market will consider their work -- and thus, that they have no real choice.It isn't true. My own experience offers a good example: In the beginning of my career, I wrote exactly three "unpaid" articles. The first (my first-ever publication) was for a monthly community paper. The second and third were for a weekly newspaper -- and these were based on the editor's promise that he would pay me once he had a freelance budget. By my fourth article, he did, and I was earning a whopping $15 per feature!Did those unpaid articles help me break into better markets? No. My first magazine sale was to Omni -- and was due to a chance meeting between my boyfriend (now hubby) and the editor at a conference. My second was to Quilt, and was due to a query that described my enthusiasm for, and knowledge of, crazy quilts. (My career has been a bit of a patchwork ever since...)Omni, alas, is dead, but specialty magazines like Quilt abound, and are more than ready to welcome new, unpublished writers. All you need are a good idea, the ability to turn that idea into a well-written article, and the confidence to send that article to an editor. If you can do all of the above, many editors truly do not care whether you've been published before or not.In short, if you have a choice between offering your material to a paying or a nonpaying market, there is no logical reason to choose the latter. The nonpaying market will always be there if you fail to sell the piece -- but it need not be your first choice, or even your second or third. If your goal is to become a paid professional, it's far better to exhaust all possibilities of payment before turning to markets that don't pay (rather than the other way around). After all, you only have to "break in" once to be considered a paid author!

When Should You Write for Free?Does this mean you should never write for free? Not at all! There are many excellent reasons to do so; it's just that "being new" isn't necessarily one of them. Here are some better reasons:

For fun. Sometimes you may want to write something for the sheer enjoyment of it -- whether it's likely to find a paying market or not. (After all, someone must be writing all those variations on "how to bathe your cat" that circulate on the Internet!) One of my earliest "sales" was an "outsider's" view of dog shows, which was published in a breed-club newsletter; later, I actually managed to sell it to a major dog magazine. (I doubt, however, that I'll ever find a paying home for "I Was a Teenage Were-Elkhound"...)

To support a cause. Instead of contributing money to organizations or issues you believe in, you may choose to donate your writing skills instead. Your "payment" is often simply the knowledge that you are increasing awareness of an important issue. If you already have a "name," lending it to your chosen cause can be an important contribution in itself.

To help a favorite organization. You may enjoy contributing an occasional piece to your company, community, or church newsletter. Be careful, however: Once such organizations realize that you can write, you may be flooded with requests for more freebies. Before you say "yes" the first time, be sure you will feel comfortable saying "no" later.

To enhance your career. Many unpaid markets can be career-builders -- including your own website. Writing FAQs for your own site (or others), contributing articles to professional newsletters, or writing for professional journals can be good ways to build your reputation. They may also help you develop contacts that can lead to more lucrative work later.

To help and inform others. At a certain point in their careers, many writers (and others) feel an urge to "give back" some of what they have learned over time. You may decide to write about "what you know" as a way to mentor others in your field, or perhaps as a way to repay the mentoring you yourself received at one time. Sharing information may not make you rich, but it can be exhilarating.

When You Shouldn't...Just as there are good reasons to write for free, there are also bad ones. Here are some that commonly plague new writers:

"I'll do anything to see my name in print." Seeing your byline is a thrilling experience -- but don't assume that the only way to get it is to give your work away. If you have a well-written story or article, why not send it to a paying market first? If it's accepted, you'll experience a double thrill: That of seeing your name in print, and of seeing it on a paycheck.

"I want to find out if I'm good enough to be published." Nonpaying markets are not a good place to test your abilities. Many such markets are stuck with whatever they can get (i.e., whatever unpaid writers will give them), which means that they often don't have the luxury of "rejecting" mediocre writing. Getting published in such a market, therefore, is no true test of your marketability. A better test is to submit to paying markets; if your work is accepted, you have your answer, and if it is rejected, you can explore ways to improve your material. (Keep in mind that a single rejection is no indication of quality; some articles never sell, no matter how good they are. Test the market with more than one article, and test more than one market with the same article, if you're rejected by the first.)

"I want to polish my skills before submitting to 'real' markets." To be blunt, if you don't think your material is worth publishing, why submit it to anyone? Nonpaying markets don't appreciate being dumping grounds for mediocre material. If you want to polish your work, do so through a class or critique group. Otherwise, send out your work -- and use the feedback you receive to identify areas where you may need improvement. "Polishing" is a lifelong task; since it's never finished, you might as well start selling at the same time!

"So-and-so gave me a start, and I don't want to let him/her down." Loyalty is a wonderful thing, and it can be difficult to abandon an editor or publication who accepted your work when no one else would. It's also hard to say no to someone who has learned to count on you. However, recipients of such loyalty can sometimes misuse it: Editors of nonpaying publications would often prefer to hold on to a writer "in the hand" (you) than seek out new sources. Don't let such a relationship interfere with your ability to move on to new markets.

"I'll write for nonpaying markets until I'm good enough for 'real' markets." The trick word in this sentence is "I." The issue here is often not whether your writing is good enough, but whether you feel that you are good enough. I've known too many writers who produced excellent material -- but felt that they weren't "ready" to send that material to paying markets. This often involves issues of self-esteem, fear of rejection, fear of failure, or even fear of success. Most often, writers who make this excuse doubt themselves or even their "right" to call themselves "writers." But that's another column...

Writing for free is simply an option, never a necessity. The bottom line is that if your writing isn't good (and you know it), your energies are best spent seeking ways to improve it. If your writing is good, and you believe in it, don't sell yourself short by failing to sell yourself at all!

"Bestselling historical novelist Alison Weir will present the Awards for 2019 during a ceremony in the Gladstone Library, One Whitehall Place, London SW1 on 4th March. Tickets for the awards are available here. We will also present our Outstanding Achievement Award to a writer who has made a truly exceptional contribution to the romantic genre.Our annual awards are the only national literary prizes that recognise excellence in the genre of romantic fiction. In 2019 they comprise the Goldsboro Books Contemporary Romantic Novel Award, the Goldsboro Books Historical Romantic Novel Award, the Books and the City Romantic Comedy Novel Award, the Sapere Books Popular Romantic Fiction Award, the Fantasy Romantic Novel Award, the Shorter Romantic Novel Award and the Katie Fforde Debut Romantic Novel Award.Since our inception in 1960 the RNA has promoted excellence in romantic fiction and RNA Chair, Nicola Cornick, commented, “Romantic fiction in the 21st century is diverse and exciting and this year’s shortlist brilliantly reflects the breadth of the genre. We are very proud to celebrate these outstanding books and authors, and the contribution they make to such a successful and popular genre.”

The Sapere Books Popular Romantic Fiction Award is a new prize for 2019 and we’re delighted to be able to welcome Sapere Books’ as sponsors for this award. This is in addition to our previously announced sponsors: Goldsboro Books, Katie Fforde and Books & The City.David Headley, Managing Director of Goldsboro Books, commented, “The range of themes explored in this year’s shortlist is a testament to the many facets of the romantic fiction genre and Goldsboro Books is delighted to be sponsoring the awards for a third year, and bringing these diverse and entertaining books to readers’ attention.”Books and the City Brand Director Sara-Jade Virtue said: “Championing the varied and diverse work of romantic fiction authors is at the heart and soul of everything we do at Books and the City, so we are delighted to be working closely for the first time with the RNA – an organisation we admire and respect greatly – by sponsoring the Romantic Comedy Award 2019.”Amy Durant from Sapere Books said, “We are very excited to be sponsoring the RNA’s Popular Romantic Fiction Award. We hope that this new award will encourage more romance writers to submit to the annual RNA Awards and will be able to reward romance writing loved by readers.”Katie Fforde said, “It’s an honour and a delight to be sponsoring the Debut Romantic Novel Award with such a strong shortlist.”Tickets to the awards presentation are available here."

​THE LONGLISTAmateur: A true story about what makes a man by Thomas Page McBeeAstroturf by Matthew SperlingEducated by Tara WestoverFreshwater by Akwaeke EmeziHeart: A history by Sandeep JauharMind on Fire: A memoir of madness and recovery by Arnold Thomas FanningMurmur by Will EavesMy Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa MoshfeghPolio: The odyssey of eradication by Thomas AbrahamSight by Jessie GreengrassThe Trauma Cleaner: One woman’s extraordinary life in death, decay and disaster by Sarah KrasnosteinThis Really Isn’t About You by Jean Hannah Edelstein​The shortlist for the prize will be announced on Tuesday 19 March, with the winner revealed at an evening ceremony on Wednesday 1 May at Wellcome Collection.

Sol Stein's 10 Commandments for Writers​Thou shalt not sprinkle characters into a preconceived plot lest thou produce hackwork. In the beginning was the character, then the word, and from the character’s words is brought forth action.

Thou shalt imbue thy heroes with faults and thy villains with charm, for it is the faults of the hero that brings forth his life, just as the charm of the villain is the honey with which he lures the innocent.The characters shall steal, kill, dishonor their parents, bear false witness, and covet their neighbor’s house, wife, manservant, ox, and ass, for readers crave such actions and yawn when thy characters are meek, innocent, forgiving, and peaceful.

Thou shalt not saw the air with abstractions, for readers, like lovers, are attracted by particularity.

Thou shalt not mutter, whisper, blurt, bellow, or scream, for it is the words and not the characterization of the words that must carry their own decibels.

Thou shalt infect thy reader with anxiety, stress, and tension, for those conditions that he deplores in life he relishes in fiction.

Thy language shall be precise, clear, and bear the wings of angels, for anything less is the province of businessmen and academics and not of writers.

Thou shalt have no rest on the Sabbath, for thy characters shall live in thy mind and memory now and forever.

Thou shalt not forget that dialogue is a foreign tongue, a semblance of speech and not a record of it, a language in which directness diminishes and obliqueness sings.

Above all, thou shalt not vent thy emotions onto the reader, for thy duty is to evoke the reader’s emotions, and in that most of all lies the art of the writer.

The Judges for the Women's Prize for Fiction, 2019, are:Chair: Professor Kate WilliamsArifa AkbarDolly AldertonLeyla HusseinSarah WoodKey Dates:4th March 2019 - The Longlist to be Announced29th April 2019 - The Shortlist to be Announced5th June 2019 - The Winner to be AnnouncedVisit the Website

Anyone can enter the prize, as long as their story (of up to 5,000 words) is previously unpublished. Every year, a single judge is asked to choose three winning stories, to feature in the autumn issue of The Moth. Previous judges include John Boyne, Martina Evans, Donal Ryan, Belinda McKeon and Mike McCormack.Previous winners include Marc Phillips, Nikki McWatters and June Caldwell. 1st prize €3,0002nd prize week-long writing retreat at Circle of Misse in France plus €250 travel stipend3rd prize €1,000The prize is open from January to June annually (with a closing date of 30 June)​WEBSITE

Key dates: Longlist announcement: 11 February 2019Shortlist announcement: 1 March 2019Prize-winner announcement: 22 March 2019 Prizes: The winning author will receive £1000 or one year’s editorial support for a writing project.Shortlisted authors will each receive £150.Longlisted authors will receive £50 of book vouchers and a 4-book subscription to Galley Beggar Press.WEBSITE

Simon Armitage wins Queen's gold medal for poetry 2018 English poet and novelist Simon Armitage has been awarded the Queen’s gold medal for poetry for his body of work “giving voice to those rarely admitted into poetry, and extending an arm around the unheard and the dispossessed”.READ MORE >>>

Poet Hannah Sullivan has won the prestigious and lucrative TS Eliot prize for her first collection Three Poems – just the third debut to land the award in its 25-year history, and a sign that the poetry world is hunting for a new generation of voices.Read More >>>

2018 RW Short Story Prize ShortlistBetween The Times by Richard BuxtonFuture Shock by Lorri NicholsonI Visit My Dad Every Thursday by Dave MurrayLike A Dog by Rhys TimsonSomething Else by Sophie KirkwoodThe Lost Letter by Lucy DugganThe Stutter by Alexis WolfeThe Tailor’s Shears by David ButlerWill You Go Out Tonight by Joanna CampbellSatellite Presence by A.C. Koch

2018 RW Flash Fiction Prize ShortlistA Beige Spot by Manisha KhemkaBroken Shackles At Her Feet by Dean GessieBurger Raid by David McVeyConnor And His Amazing Ejector Boots by James EllisGold Band by Niamh McCabeHow to Friend Your Shadow by Frances GapperLet It Snow by Gwenda MajorOld Woman Cooking Eggs, Diego Valesquez 1618 by Fiona MackintoshSticking Point by Sherry MorrisThe Problem Is by Xanthi Barker

Flights is a novel about travel in the 21st century and human anatomy. From the 17th century, we have the story of the real Dutch anatomist Philip Verheyen, who dissected and drew pictures of his own amputated leg, discovering in so doing the Achilles tendon. From the 18th century, we have the story of a North African-born slave turned Austrian courtier stuffed and put on display after his death in spite of his daughter’s ever more desperate protests, as well as the story of Chopin’s heart as it makes the covert journey from Paris to Warsaw, stored in a tightly sealed jar beneath his sister’s skirt. From the present we have the trials and tribulations of a wife accompanying her much older professor husband as he teaches a course on a cruise ship in the Greek islands, the quest of a Polish woman who emigrated to New Zealand as a teenager but must now return to Poland in order to poison her terminally ill high school sweetheart, and the slow descent into madness of a young husband whose wife and child mysteriously vanished on a vacation on a Croatian island and then appeared again with no explanation.Through these narratives, interspersed with short bursts of analysis and digressions on topics ranging from travel-sized cosmetics to the Maori, Flights guides the reader beyond the surface layer of modernity and towards the core of the very nature of humankind.

The setting is a comedy club in a small Israeli town. An audience that has come expecting an evening of amusement instead sees a comedian falling apart on stage; an act of disintegration, a man crumbling before their eyes as a matter of choice. They could get up and leave, or boo and whistle and drive him from the stage, if they were not so drawn to glimpse his personal hell.

Dovale Gee, a veteran stand-up comic – charming, erratic, repellent – exposes a wound he has been living with for years: a fateful and gruesome choice he had to make between the two people who were dearest to him.

Yeong-hye and her husband are ordinary people. He is an office worker with moderate ambitions and mild manners; she is an uninspired but dutiful wife. The acceptable flatline of their marriage is interrupted when Yeong-hye, seeking a more ‘plant-like’ existence, commits a shocking act of subversion. As her rebellion manifests in ever more bizarre and frightening forms, Yeong-hye spirals further and further into her fantasies of abandoning her fleshly prison and becoming – impossibly, ecstatically – a tree. Fraught, disturbing, and beautiful, The Vegetarian is a novel about modern day South Korea, but also a novel about shame, desire, and our faltering attempts to understand others, from one imprisoned body to another.